NigeB

Hi All, Success! New battery (Ultramax 12 V 18 Ah) arrived today so I fitted it this evening; hit the button and the car fired up instantly. 😬 Looks like you were right about cautioning against the jump lead approach Roger. I'd not appreciated quite how lossy these were. Good call! Thanks again to everyone for your responses and help - much appreciated! Nigel

PS, if you're wondering why I've ordered it today when I said I'd done it last week... I did, but then got a message to say the 20 Ah was out of stock. So I've gone for the 18 Ah instead - reports on this forum suggest it works OK.

Hi Roger, Unfortunately not yet - have had to burn the midnight oil for work, and I only got around to ordering it today. Looks like my Sevening action will be limited to a soapy sponge and a hose this weekend... I'll definitely be posting an update, next week when the battery arrives. Thanks Nigel

Hi All, Positive progress tonight... Bob, thanks for the pointer to the earth lead I'd missed - found it; I can get the connector off the chassis, which I've done and cleaned (both sides). Getting the other end off the engine block is defeating me at the moment. Anyway, battery is on order, but tonight I tried the same setup as last night, this time with an additional lead from +ve on the battery directly to the +ve terminal on the solenoid. Result - far more heathy starter turnover followed by engine start . I took the lead off and tried again - back to the original problem. Definite correlation. So this is looking pretty much like a loss somewhere along the wiring harness from battery to starter, or (hopefully) the use of jump leads as Roger suggested. I'm going to stop fiddling now until the battery arrives and I can test this out unambiguously. Thanks to all of you for taking the time to respond - I really appreciate the help I've been given through this forum . I'll post again when the battery arrives and I try that out. Thanks Nigel

Hi Tom, Sorry but revealing my ignorance here, is the FIA key the battery master switch, i.e. this? http://www.caterhamparts.co.uk/product.php?id_product=4081 I don't have one of those fitted (yet...) - I have the standard Rover key barrel, and a red starter button fitted by Caterham. Thanks Nigel

Hi Roger, Stationary M25 Traveller, Thanks for your replies. The jump leads are definitely copper, but also definitely *cheap*, so it looks like I need to get some better ones. For all the connections I found, I unbolted, cleaned with wet-and-dry until I got a good fresh metal face, then wiped off with a cloth lightly dampened with white spirit. I did this on the engine block ground connection as well, but I didn't spot one going to the chassis, so there's definitely at least one which I've missed. I will go hunting tonight, and find someone who can test the motor under load. Ultramax ordered. Thanks for these pointers: I'll try these over the next few nights. With a bit of luck it'll all be running in time for the wet weather to return! Thanks Nigel

Hi Jonathan Thanks for responding. The way I did it was to take the jump leads from the external (Yaris/mower) battery terminals and simply connect the other end to the Banner battery terminals in the Seven (when I took the Banner out, as I did on the successful attempt, I simply screwed the terminals together and supported them with an insulating material, and attached the other end of the jump leads to these. So I'm guessing that yes, I'm using all of the original ground and positive wiring to the starter motor (I had a go at cleaning the battery connections, and also the ground which goes to the engine block). Thanks Nigel

Evening All, I was reluctant to post, given that starter problems have been discussed extensively on these forums... but I've searched and found nothing quite like this, so I'd appreciate any thoughts / advice, or pointers to the posts I've missed! Sorry this is long, but hopefully some of the observations might help someone recognise the problem. My 1.8 K-series has been unused for over 12 months due to house building and family growth, save for a start-up about 6 months ago which was trouble-free (instant fire-up; I left the engine running for about 15 mins, but went no further than my drive entrance ☹️ ). Last week I went to get it ready for a service/MOT and hopefully return to more regular use now that small person No.1 is old enough to go for the odd blat. At some point in the past 6 months my battery conditioner had been disconnected, and the 2 year old Banner battery is now kaput, but after reading these forums I decided to get an Ultramax replacement. Before ordering I thought I'd check that everything else was OK with the machine, hooked up one of several other batteries I have (I tried, via jump leads, (1) the 1 week-old, freshly charged 12V 30 Amp Hour Unipart 3038 battery in my lawnmower (265 amp cold-crank), (2) A 12 V 70 Ah leisure battery, and (3) jump starting from my Toyota Yaris - with the dead Banner still in, and with it removed.) Dipstick oil level check is ok. I turned on the ignition, saw healthy looking lights and gauges, and heard the expected sounds (fuel pump etc). Then I hit the starter button and found that the starter motor was barely able to complete one revolution (or what sounds like one revolution). The solenoid engages and the motor turns slowly for about 3 seconds (so it's not the dreaded "K-click"), but it sounded just like the final crank-over before a battery is completely flat. Keeping my finger on the button resulted in the motor managing another painfully slow half crank after a second or two of stalling, at which point I took my finger off. Jump leads were really hot. I can move the car in 5th gear by pushing, just - it feels like it did last time I bump-started, so I figured it's not a seized engine. Last night, probably foolishly, I hooked up to the Yaris in the hope that this would give me reliable starting power for a few attempts. Initially the result was the same - one slow revolution, and very hot jump leads. After a few attempts it sounded like the motor was turning a little easier (still only one revolution); a few more tries and I was getting several turns. But every now and again I'd find things had returned to the barely-able-to-do-one turn situation. Nevertheless, overall the trend was towards increasing numbers of turns and increasing speed of turns, and eventually (after about an hour) I got the engine fired up. At that point, everything looked normal - engine temperature and oil pressure good, no smoke, engine sound (and smell) normal, free-reving, and with the car in gear and moving it all felt right. I left the car running for 20 mins, then turned off. When I tried to start again - same problem. Back to square one with the single, slow crank from the starter motor. I've cleaned up all of the electrical connections I can find between the starter motor and the battery. I've had the starter motor off this evening; it's a Magneton. I've opened it up, and everything looks good - brushes clean and intact, solenoid working. I've run the starter on the bench, and it *looks* ok - applying power to the motor and solenoid results in the sprocket being pushed forward to the flywheel-engage position, and it spins fast (can't be quantitative, but it looks *really* fast!). As far as I could see, the starter ring looked ok - as much as I could eyeball in its current position. All a bit vague and qualitative but it's all I can do with the kit I have. I re-fitted the starter motor this evening, but the result is the same. As far as I can tell, it's not the under-powered solenoid issue that seems to be a common cause of the K-click; the starter motor is definitely energising and starting the motor, which is engaging and (just) turning the starter ring. I'm starting to wonder if this is a problem with the starter ring itself - it seems like there could be a "tight" spot, and a region that's more free. Is this possible? Any thoughts welcome. If it's the starter ring, is this a big money job to get fixed? Thanks Nigel

Hi Bricol, Mav, This is a SERIOUSLY belated thank you; I posted my original message soon after returning from holiday, ended up putting my toy in the garage, and sadly due to work commitments there she has remained. In the mean time, out of sight has been out of mind, as was my post. Anyway, the bottom line is that I believe the problem is the spring washer part of the assembly that you pointed out, Mav. Or rather, the lack of spring washers in my assembly... I've got some bits now (3 pence per washer from my local hardware store - I didn't think you could buy anything for 3 p these days) and will fit them before hitting the road again. Which at this rate might be quite some time... Thanks once again for responding to my post. Cheers Nigel

Hi, I have a recurring problem with the steering on my 1998 K-series Roadsport. It's fitted with a MOMO quick-release steering wheel, but unlike many of the posts I've read, I don't find a lot of play in the boss. All of the problems I have seem to be caused by the apparent softness of the metal that the column itself is made of. The large grub screw (which on my machine is locked with a nut that tightens around the outside) in the middle of the upper clamp leaves serious indents in the column metal, and eventually this leads to play. Last year I tried to address the problem by having the end of the grub screw filed flat and placing a steel plate approx 3 mm thick and 1 cm long, with the same width as the column, between the column and the grub screw to try and distribute the clamping pressure without causing deformation (getting the plate in required making up a couple of spacers to expand the clamp assembly). This improved the situation, but after about 5000 miles the problem has returned - when I turn the steering wheel I can see the upper clamp assembly slip around the column bar for perhaps 2 or 3 degrees before it begins to get purchase on the column. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Is it worth looking for a fancy aftermarket column? Thanks Nige

Hi Dave, Thanks for keeping me posted - no problem (Mark has just picked the seats up). Hope you get sorted out wth that radiator soon. Cheers Nigel

Mark, Dave, Thanks for your response; I've been away from home but heading back this evening, and will provide some photos when I get back. Apologies for the delay. Nigel

One pair of genuine Caterham adjustable cloth seats with headrests and mounting hardware (ok, 4 nuts, bolts and washers!). One of the seats has a metal sheet fitted to the back to fix a minor problem which was not noticeable in the car, but spotted when the seat was removed prior to fitting leather ones. It is completely servicable. Inspection welcome, and I can supply photos if required. £200 for the pair, buyer to collect (I'm about 12 miles from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire). Nigel

Miles, Mick, Casey - Many thanks for your responses. I went out and found a friend (who comes equipped with soft hammer!) to help as suggested - a little tapping and wiggling and the thing came apart. It's back together and sealed - not perfect, but better than before, and I now know how to do it next time if required. Thanks for your quick and useful replies - very much appreciated! Cheers Nigel

Hi All, Please excuse my not-very-precise language here - I'm not sure what the correct terminology is! The exhaust on my 1998 1.8 K-series appears to be blowing somewhat. If I clamp my hand over the end of the pipe at idle speed, I get almost no difference in engine revs, where I assumed it would struggle to keep turning over. The problem area appears to be a section of the exhaust visible on the exterior of the car, where the 4 pipes merge into 1 (4-1 manifold?). With said hand in place, I can feel a strong jet coming from one of the 4-pipe joints, and there is some sooting around the problem area, so I figure that's my first call. I've read the posts describing the use of sealants etc to fix blowing - no problem there. My problem is a bit more fundamental - I can't pull the thing apart. Have removed the 2 bolts which hold the 4-pipe interface together (via some plates welded on to two of the pipes), and the main bolt of the mounting point at the outlet, but no matter how hard I tug, it won't budge. Is there a trick to this? (Am I a weakling?) As an aside,I've been told that allowing the blowing to continue will have a detrimental effect on the valves. Is that true? Many Thanks Nige